Schools - Teachers' Association: Pedagogues often frustrated by the system
Before the start of the new school year, the mood in many teacher's rooms, according to the Thuringian Teachers' Association (tlv), is not particularly good. Many school principals and pedagogues are frustrated, for example, because they don't know which personnel will be teaching at their school starting next week, says the tlv chairman, Tim Reukauf, in Erfurt. Hourly plans were difficult to set up. "Teaching is not what stresses out the teachers – it's everything around it," Reukauf says. More and more older teachers are now eagerly waiting for the day they can retire. They are even willing to accept reductions in their retirement ages to retire as early as possible. "They can't take it anymore," Reukauf says.
The tlv refers to the fact that there are currently approximately 970 open positions for teachers recorded in the state's career portal. That's 151 more open positions than a year ago, according to the statement from the association. "The signs are still pointing to a storm," the announcement from the union states. Both the outgoing and the new state government are demanding, among other things, a reduction in bureaucracy and assistants for the administration at every school. In addition, additional tasks should be recognized through make-up hours.
Reukauf says that in the past few years, the Ministry of Education has certainly brought sensible model projects onto the way, such as relieving teachers of administrative tasks. However, these model projects were then introduced too slowly at other schools in the state. "That's just not enough," Reukauf says. He is confident that the digitalization of Thuringian schools would still be in the status of a model project without the Corona pandemic.
Criticism also from the opposition
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education says that the large number of open positions for pedagogues in the state career portal shows both the teacher shortage everywhere in Germany and Thuringia's efforts to hire as many new teachers as possible. The fact that there are currently more open positions than a year ago is due to the fact that the hiring process is "dynamic." "It's a snapshot, but of course it points to the fact that it's not easy to find new teaching staff," the spokesperson says.
The tlv's criticism of the handling of model projects was rejected by the spokesperson. "Well, you can always criticize that it's not going fast enough, but what matters is that we have good ideas."
CDU education politician Christian Tischner, however, emphasizes that the current numbers of open positions for teachers show that the state government has not made any progress in combating the teacher shortage in the past ten years. "On the contrary: The problem is getting bigger instead of smaller," Tischner says.
- The Teachers' Association in Thuringia, or tlv, has expressed concern about the mood in teacher's rooms before the new school year, citing uncertainty about personnel changes as a major issue.
- Older teachers in Thuringia are eagerly awaiting retirement, with some even willing to accept reductions in their retirement ages to do so earlier, according to tlv chairman Tim Reukauf.
- The tlv noted a significant increase in open teacher positions in Thuringia's career portal, from 819 to 970, which the spokesperson for the Ministry of Education attributed to the dynamic hiring process.
- Despite the implementation of model projects to relieve teachers of administrative tasks by the Ministry of Education, the tlv criticizes the slow pace of rollout at other schools in the state, suggesting it's not enough to address the issue.
